People cut down expenditure on basic commodities by 40%: Study

December 1, 2013

ExpenditureNew Delhi, Dec 1: Rising retail inflation has pushed homemakers to cut down their kitchen budgets and reduce consumption of essential commodities, including vegetables, fruits and pulses, by almost 40 per cent in the last three years, says an Assocham study.

High prices have forced households to compromise on nutrient-rich food, it said.

"Nearly 72 per cent of lower-middle class families, covered in the survey, said they have been forced to squeeze their budgets for fruits, vegetables and milk by about 40 per cent because of consistent high retail prices," it said.

The chamber claimed that it has surveyed over 3,000 people, in a period of two months beginning October to November 2013, in National Capital Region, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Pune.

"The price rise of essential commodities and expenses on other necessities like education, transport and health has stayed higher than the pace at which earnings have increased, thus making life difficult for the poor, lower income and even middle-class families," Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.

The survey said that even the good old affordable tomatoes, onion, lady finger and potatoes are becoming unaffordable even for the middle-class families.

Prices of potato, onion and tomatoes are the three most common vegetables used in every household. Prices have shot up because supplies have slowed down due to unseasonal rains at the time of harvesting in key growing states.

The costlier vegetables such as onions had drove retail inflation to 10.09 per cent in October, entering double digits after seven months.

The survey said food price spiral has pinched all the lower and middle-class families across the board.

"More than 62 per cent of salaried families said that they shell out between Rs 4,000 to 6,000 on vegetables and fruits now, while this expenditure was one-fourth of it about three years ago. So, they are now forced to rethink their daily menus," it said.

The chamber asked the government to take immediate steps to control the situation.

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Agencies
August 9,2020

New Delhi, Aug 9: Indian on Sunday achieved a grim milestone after recording the highest single-day spike of 64,399 coronavirus cases, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

As many as 861 deaths were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative toll to 43,379.

With the new cases, the country's coronavirus count has reached 21,53,011 including 6,28,747 active cases and 14,80,885 cured/discharged/migrated.

Maharashtra has 1,47,355 active coronavirus cases, the highest in the country.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 7,19,364 samples were tested on August 8 while over 2.41 crores samples so far have been tested in the country.

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Agencies
January 8,2020

New Delhi, Jan 8: Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) President Aishe Ghosh has filed a complaint over the violence that took place at the varsity campus on Sunday.

"I am filing this complaint for the incident in which a mob conspired and acted with common intention to assault, intimidate and attempt to murder me, and request you to register an FIR and apprehend culprits at the earliest," the complaint read.

She said that on January 5, in the afternoon, she received information from students in the campus that some students affiliated to ABVP along with other unidentified men and women had gathered with weapons like rods, sledgehammers and lathis near Ganga Bus Stop.

"I along with Nikhil Mathew (MA Labour Studies) who was also present there, were surrounded by a group of persons of that mob most of whom were wearing masks. The mob of 20-30 persons dragged me behind a car standing near the 24*7 and surrounded me and despite my pleading did not let me go and attacked me with rods while I had fallen down. I remember that one of the people was of medium height wearing a brownish-red sweatshirt with UCLA written on it. I saw his face as he was facing me and did not have a mask on and can identify him if I see him," Ghosh wrote in her complaint.

"I was attacked by the above-mentioned persons collectively and was hit on the head multiple times with iron rods. I fell to the ground and my head started bleeding, and some of them kicked me and hit me with the rod on my hand and rest of the body including my head, chest and back."

"I am attaching with this complaint a copy of the MLC which details my injuries. Nikhil Mathew tried to save me but was also hit with an iron hammer and other weapons on his head and arms. The intention of the group of men and their acts was definitely to murder me and other persons associated with me," she said.

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News Network
April 25,2020

Chennai, Apr 25: Civic authorities on Saturday turned down a plea for exhuming the body of a doctor who died of COVID-19 here and burying it in another cemetery, citing health experts' view that it was unsafe to do so. Citing a request from the wife of the deceased doctor to allow exhumation and then re-burial at a cemetery in Kilpauk, the Greater Chennai Corporation said it sought a report from a committee of public health experts to ascertain the feasibility of entertaining her plea.

The spouse of the doctor had appealed to the GCC on April 22 to exhume and bury again her husband's body. She had said that burial in the Kilpauk cemetery here was her husband's last wish and he had conveyed it to her before he was put on a ventilator.

The report of experts has said that "it is not safe" to exhume and again bury the body of a COVID-19 victim and hence "it is not possible to accept her request," the GCC said in an official release. On April 19, a city-based 55-year-old neurosurgeon died of coronavirus and his burial at the Velangadu crematorium here was marred by violence.

A mob which falsely feared that the burial may lead to the spread of contagion had attacked the corporation health employees and associates of the deceased doctor. The doctor's wife and son also had to leave the burial ground in view of the violence.

The body was brought to Velangadu as people of Kilpauk area had opposed his burial there. Over a dozen men involved allegedly in violence were arrested and remanded to judicial custody. Later, in a video message, the surgeon's wife had said that it was her husband's last wish to be interred at the Kilpauk cemetery as per Christian rituals

Chief Minister K Palaniswami and DMK president M K Stalin had spoken to her on Wednesday over the phone and condoled her husband's death.

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